The PROTECT study is a prospective birth cohort in the Northern Karst region of Puerto Rico, originally designed to evaluate the relationship between environmental toxicants and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Pregnant participants aged 18-40 years were recruited at approximately 14 weeks of gestation from two hospitals and five clinics throughout Northern Puerto Rico between 2010 and 2019. Women were followed up 3 times throughout pregnancy, providing biospecimens and demographic and behavioural data. From 2017 to 2019, mother-child pairs from the PROTECT cohort were recruited into the CRECE (Center for Research on Early Childhood Exposure and Development in Puerto Rico) study and followed up 7 times until the children were four. As part of the ECHO Consortium, the project plans to continue follow-up of the mother-child pairs already participating in the PROTECT/CRECE cohort and recruit additional pregnant participants to be integrated into the US-wide ECHO Cohort.

Recruitment is ongoing